It might be a roller coaster ride on the AAPL stock right now, but shareholders are being given some pocket money today

The dividend amounts to $2.5 billion, but in real terms it’s $2.65 (£1.67) per share.

It’s the second dividend that Apple has paid to shareholders - the company also paid a dividend last quarter. Prior to that Apple hadn’t paid a dividend for 17 years (reports claim that late CEO Steve Jobs was against the practice).

Apple paid the first dividend of recent times on 16 August. It was also worth $2.65 a share.

Speaking at an analyst conference call back in March, CEO Tim Cook said: “Subject to a board declaration, we plan to initiate a quarterly dividend of $2.65 per share beginning in the September quarter. A quarterly dividend will provide current income to our shareholders, and we also believe it will broaden Apple’s investor base by attracting new investors who don’t currently own Apple stock.”

Apple will continue to make a $2.5 billion dividend payment to investors each quarter.

To qualify, investors needed to hold shares on or before Monday 12 November.

Apple pays its quarterly dividends about a month and a half after the end of each subsequent quarter. These quarterly dividends will incurs income tax as they are paid out.